The Joy of Making a Difference

A college professor I had years ago pointed out that there was no such thing as pure altruism or purely altruistic folks. “What about Mother Theresa?” I asked. “She enjoyed the appreciation and adulation of millions for her sacrificial behavior, not to mention the comfort of feeling she was doing God’s work,” he replied. I’m…

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Taming My Judgmental Tendencies

As any writer who traditionally publishes can tell you, the hardest thing to do is to wait… and wait… and wait some more for news about whether any of the publishers or agents you’ve queried accepts your submission. Recently I had a particularly frustrating experience with the founder and chief acquisition editor of a small…

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Meet Debut Mystery Author Cindy Goyette

Few things are as exciting as the debut of your first novel! I’m so delighted to get to interview Cindy Goyette whose first mystery, OBEY ALL LAWS, was released this month. Below are her responses to my interview questions, followed by Cindy’s bio and contact/buy links: First off, congratulations on the release of OBEY ALL…

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Swimming In the Dark

I was on a panel about mystery writing at a conference last summer when one of my fellow authors announced, “The only way to make money writing mysteries is to write a series.” I laughed and said, “Now I know what the problem is with my bank account!” I write “standalone” novels and create new…

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A Special Gift in the New Year

A little over a year ago, we lost our 17-year-old cat, Lucy. She was the most affectionate, loving cat we’d ever had and was especially attached to my husband. When we finally had to let her go because of her severe health problems, we both wept and felt her loss keenly. We decided to wait…

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Thinking About New Year’s Resolutions

When I asked my husband about whether he ever made New Year’s resolutions, he said, “Absolutely. I have one resolution, which is to never make any.” I laughed and decided he had a point. Resolutions feel great at the time you’re making them, but they can be a lot tougher to keep. Life and our…

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Despite It All, I’m So Grateful

As a long time news junkie, it’s getting harder and harder to read a newspaper or tune into the news. To witness such enormous suffering in the Israeli-Hamas/Russia-Ukraine conflicts as well as the assaults on women’s rights and our totally dysfunctional Congress is so awful that I find myself wanting to crawl back into bed…

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